Falcon Age
More actions
| Falcon Age | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| VR/AR | Virtual Reality |
| Developer | Outerloop Games |
| Publisher | Outerloop Games |
| Platform | PlayStation VR, SteamVR, Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest |
| Device | PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Valve Index, Windows Mixed Reality, Oculus Quest |
| Operating System | PlayStation 4, Windows, Nintendo Switch (non-VR) |
| Type | Game |
| Genre | Action, Adventure |
| Input Device | PlayStation Move, DualShock 4, Tracked Motion Controllers |
| Play Area | Seated, Standing, Room-scale |
| Game Mode | Single-player |
| Release Date | PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR: April 9, 2019; PC (Epic Games Store): September 6, 2019; Oculus Quest: September 3, 2020; Steam and Nintendo Switch: October 8, 2020 |
| Price | US$19.99 (PlayStation 4 launch price) |
| App Store | PlayStation Store, Epic Games Store, Steam, Meta Horizon Store, Nintendo eShop |
| Website | https://www.falconage.com/ |
Falcon Age is a first-person, single-player action-adventure game developed and published by Outerloop Games, an independent studio. The player controls Ara, a young woman on a colonized desert planet who raises a falcon and uses falcon hunting to fight robotic colonizers.[1][2] It can be played either in virtual reality or on a flat screen. The game launched on PlayStation 4 with optional PlayStation VR support on April 9, 2019.[3] Later versions followed for PC VR headsets through the Epic Games Store in September 2019, for Oculus Quest in September 2020, and for Steam and Nintendo Switch (without VR) in October 2020.[4][5][6]
Reviews focused largely on the falcon companion, which the player can whistle for, carry on the hand, pet, feed and dress up.[2][7] On Metacritic the PlayStation 4 version has a score of 70 based on 27 critic reviews.[8]
Gameplay
The game begins on a dying colony planet whose culture has been destroyed and whose land has been turned into desert by machine invaders. Ara has been wrongfully jailed for a minor infraction and befriends a young falcon from her cell. The two escape and join a resistance movement trying to drive the invaders off.[1][9] The plot pits a resistance group against a colonizing robotic corporation.[7] Kotaku described the main story as shutting down three refineries, with side missions from other characters and a family conflict between Ara's resistance-minded aunt and her mother.[10]
The player can name, feed, pet and dress up the falcon. Ara hunts wildlife for materials and cooks falcon snacks that buff, heal and strengthen the bird. The falcon can also be fitted with functional gear such as sonar and armor and with cosmetic items such as hats and scarves.[2] In VR with PlayStation Move controllers, the player calls the falcon by holding a controller up to the mouth and pressing the trigger to whistle, and sends her off by throwing the arm forward.[7] Kotaku noted that targeting animals and items was easier with a Move controller, while the game's electric whip was easier to aim with a DualShock controller.[10]
In combat, Ara fights drones and robots with a stun baton while directing the falcon's attacks.[2] In UploadVR's description, enemy robots often need a specific mix of falcon strikes and melee hits; stealth is a viable option, and the game includes teleport and smooth movement options.[7] Combat is optional: the official site describes Imprint Mode as the story mode with optional combat, and Kotaku described the choice as a Story mode with combat and an Imprint mode without it.[2][10]
Development
Chandana "Eka" Ekanayake, the game's creative director, co-founded Outerloop Games in 2017. In an interview on the Origin Story podcast, he described Falcon Age as inspired by South Asian culture and colonialism.[11] He also said he wrote a one-page outline of the game and pitched it to the writer Meghna Jayanth, and the two developed the concept from there.[11] Jayanth is known for 80 Days, and NME lists Falcon Age among the games she wrote or co-wrote.[12] IGN's review credits the writing to Jayanth, Cassandra Khaw and Ekanayake.[13] In a GDC Twitch interview after launch, Ekanayake discussed the game's anti-colonial story.[14]
The project began as a VR prototype after the team watched footage of golden eagles and other birds of prey. The developers spent time with a real falconer and studied how birds move.[15] In the launch post on the PlayStation Blog, Ekanayake named videos of golden eagles hunting large mountain goats as an early inspiration. He described an early prototype moment, whistling for the bird in VR and watching it fly in from a distance and land on the hand, as the point at which the team saw a mechanic that could serve as the core of the game.[3] The falcon's design combines several raptor types: she is as big as a golden eagle, fights like a hawk, and has owl-like tufts and falcon tendencies. Her feet rotate around the player's fist using 30 blend poses, her head stays in place while her body follows the motion controller, and her small body feathers flutter in the wind and flatten when the player's hand brushes against them.[3]
Falcon Age was built in the Unity engine and was the team's fifth Unity game. The team built both a VR version and a non-VR version, which Ekanayake acknowledged was more work. He named locomotion, character-to-object interaction and falcon interaction as the biggest considerations, and the game switches between character controllers in real time depending on the hardware in use. In flight, the falcon uses basic physics and an auto-generated 3D navigation graph searched with A* in Unity's Job System. Its AI layers simple behaviors: when bored it hunts, collects items or lands at points of interest, and when hurt it flies back to a spot where the player can tend its wounds.[15] Ekanayake presented the game's development at Augmented World Expo 2019.[15] According to UploadVR, Ekanayake said the game was originally developed on PC VR.[4]
Release
Outerloop announced Falcon Age for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR on August 20, 2018, with a 2019 release window. The PlayStation VR version supports PlayStation Move controllers or a DualShock 4, and the flat-screen version uses standard first-person controls on the DualShock 4.[1] A gameplay trailer followed in December 2018.[9] The game launched on April 9, 2019, at US$19.99.[3] The PlayStation Store lists it as compatible with PlayStation VR, with optional PlayStation Move controllers, and as playable on PlayStation 5.[16]
During E3 2019, Outerloop announced a PC version for the Epic Games Store at the Kinda Funny Games showcase, with SteamVR and Oculus headset support including the Valve Index.[17] It launched there on September 6, 2019, supporting the Oculus Rift, SteamVR headsets such as the HTC Vive, and Windows Mixed Reality headsets. That release added balance changes, new enemies, new bird skins and a slightly different ending that depends on the player's choices; the new content also came to the other versions in an update the same day.[4]
In June 2019, Ekanayake ran a poll asking players which platform the game should come to next, with Switch, Quest and Xbox One as options.[18] The Oculus Quest version was released on September 3, 2020. UploadVR noted that Quest was the first VR-dedicated platform the game launched on.[5][19] On September 23, 2020, Outerloop announced the Steam and Nintendo Switch versions for October 8 at US$19.99, with a 25% launch discount. These versions included more than a year of content updates, among them new quests, an upgrade system for the falcon, revamped cooking and hunting, and quality-of-life changes. The Switch version added touch controls for petting the falcon and gyro controls with the Joy-Con. The Steam version supports VR on headsets including the Valve Index, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Quest, in seated, standing or room-scale play.[6][20] The Steam store page lists October 8, 2020 as the release date and SteamVR or Oculus PC headsets for VR play.[21]
| Platform | Release date | VR support | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| PlayStation 4 / PlayStation VR | April 9, 2019 | Optional | PlayStation Move or DualShock 4[1][3] |
| PC (Epic Games Store) | September 6, 2019 | Optional | Oculus Rift, SteamVR and Windows Mixed Reality headsets[4] |
| Oculus Quest | September 3, 2020 | VR only | Standalone version[5] |
| PC (Steam) | October 8, 2020 | Optional | Seated, standing or room-scale VR[6][21] |
| Nintendo Switch | October 8, 2020 | None | Touch and gyro controls[6] |
Reception
On Metacritic, the PlayStation 4 version has a score of 70 based on 27 critic reviews, and the Nintendo Switch version has a score of 65 based on 6 reviews.[8] OpenCritic gives the game a Top Critic Average of 69, with 49% of critics recommending it, across 35 reviews.[22]
| Publication | Score | Platform |
|---|---|---|
| IGN | 8/10 | PlayStation 4[13] |
| GameSpot | 80/100 (as listed by Metacritic) | PlayStation 4[23] |
| Push Square | 80/100 (as listed by Metacritic) | PlayStation 4[23] |
| UploadVR | 7/10 | PlayStation VR[5] |
Reviewers mostly praised the falcon. IGN's Jonathon Dornbush wrote that the game "made me care more for a virtual pet than I ever thought I could, and it shines in VR", while noting a sparse world and minor technical problems.[13] In the review excerpt quoted by Metacritic, GameSpot compared caring for the bird to caring for real-life pets.[23] In UploadVR's review, Jamie Feltham called the falcon "something of a technical marvel", citing the way her claws move between the player's fingers and how she holds her head still while being moved. He compared the bond to the companions in Moss and Astro Bot Rescue Mission.[7]
The criticism centered on the rest of the game. Feltham wrote that once the falcon is tamed, the story treats her "more like an accessory than a character". He found combat with more than two enemies hard to follow and the crafting system a nuisance. He also reported bugs: the falcon would not stay on his hand while moving with smooth locomotion, so he had to use teleport, and he once respawned unable to move. He also noted blurry textures and visible seams on a standard PS4. He concluded that the game "nurtures a soft spot inside of you, one big enough to overlook many of its technical shortcomings."[7][5] Kotaku's review called the story and combat "half-baked", said a first playthrough lasted about three hours, and described the bird as "ridiculously lovable".[10]
UploadVR's hands-on with the PC VR version on an Oculus Rift S found the controls and gameplay close to the PlayStation VR version. Smooth locomotion worked there and no performance problems appeared, though a save-point bug remained.[4]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Chandana Ekanayake (2018-08-20). "Falcon Age Revealed For PS4 and PS VR". PlayStation Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://blog.playstation.com/2018/08/20/falcon-age-revealed-for-ps4-and-ps-vr/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Falcon Age". Outerloop Games. https://www.falconage.com/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Chandana Ekanayake (2019-04-08). "Falcon Age Swoops to PS4 and PS VR Tomorrow". PlayStation Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://blog.playstation.com/2019/04/08/falcon-age-swoops-to-ps4-and-ps-vr-tomorrow/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Aron Garst (2019-09-06). "Falcon Age PC VR Impressions: Just As Bright And Charming As PSVR". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/falcon-age-pc-vr-impressions/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Jamie Feltham (2020-08-28). "Falcon Age Oculus Quest Release Confirmed For Next Week". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/falcon-age-oculus-quest/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "Falcon Age Heads To Nintendo Switch On October 8, 2020". NintendoSoup. 2020-09-23. https://nintendosoup.com/falcon-age-heads-to-nintendo-switch-on-october-8-2020/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Jamie Feltham (2019-04-09). "Falcon Age Review: A Memorable Adventure With Slightly Clipped Wings". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/falcon-age-review/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Falcon Age Reviews". Metacritic. https://www.metacritic.com/game/falcon-age/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Scott Hayden (2018-12-10). "'Falcon Age' PSVR Gameplay Trailer Reveals Hunting, Crafting, Fighting & More". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/falcon-age-gameplay-trailer-reveals-hunting-crafting-fighting/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Mike Fahey (2019-04-09). "Falcon Age Is All About That Bird". Kotaku. https://kotaku.com/falcon-age-is-all-about-that-bird-1833918301. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Chandana Ekanayake (Falcon Age) on Creating a More Diverse and Inclusive Games Studio and Industry". Origin Story. https://www.originstory.show/episodes/chandana-ekanayake. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ Matt Kamen (2021-11-01). "'80 Days' and 'Falcon Age' writer Meghna Jayanth working on next game from developer Outerloop Games". NME. https://www.nme.com/news/gaming-news/80-days-and-falcon-age-writer-meghna-jayanth-working-on-next-game-from-developer-outerloop-games-3084636. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Jonathon Dornbush (2019-04-09). "Falcon Age Review". IGN. https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/04/09/falcon-age-review. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ Bryant Francis (2019-04-10). "Watch Falcon Age's lead dev dive into the making of this bird-tastic tale". Game Developer. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/watch-i-falcon-age-s-i-lead-dev-dive-into-the-making-of-this-bird-tastic-tale. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Braelyn Johnson (2019-08-12). "Raise a bird in Unity, bring it to life with AI, & make Twitter love it". Unity Blog (archived copy). Unity Technologies. https://web.archive.org/web/20240524132646/https://blog.unity.com/games/raise-a-bird-in-unity-bring-it-to-life-with-ai-make-twitter-love-it. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ "Falcon Age". PlayStation Store. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP4063-CUSA14498_00-OLGFALCONAGE0000/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ Jamie Feltham (2019-06-12). "E3 2019: Falcon Age Is Coming To The Epic Games Store With VR Support". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/falcon-age-pc-vr/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ Jamie Feltham (2019-06-18). "Falcon Age Dev Wants To Know If You Want The Game On Quest". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/falcon-age-quest/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ "Birds of a Feather: Action Adventure 'Falcon Age' Now Available on Quest". Meta. Meta Platforms. 2020-09-03. https://www.meta.com/blog/birds-of-a-feather-action-adventure-falcon-age-now-available-on-quest-/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ Catherine Daro (2020-09-25). "Falcon Age - Coming to Switch and Steam on October 8". GameSpace. https://www.gamespace.com/all-articles/news/falcon-age-coming-to-switch-steam-on-october-8/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 "Falcon Age on Steam". Steam. Valve. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1075080/Falcon_Age/. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ "Falcon Age Reviews". OpenCritic. https://opencritic.com/game/7569/falcon-age. Retrieved 2026-10-04.
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 "Falcon Age critic reviews (PlayStation 4)". Metacritic. https://www.metacritic.com/game/falcon-age/critic-reviews/?platform=playstation-4. Retrieved 2026-10-04.